Research Reports

Guide for Wetland Mitigation Project Monitoring

Description:

This document was prepared to guide the monitoring of wetland mitigation projects developed by the Washington State Department of Transportation. Monitoring is necessary to assess the development of wetland characteristics and functions and to determine whether the objectives of the mitigation project are met or, if not, how they might be met with remedial action. The guide is organized in two parts. Part 1 identifies two types of monitoring that might be pursued: (1) Assessing the Achievement of Functional Objectives, and (2) Diagnostic Procedures. The first type is intended to evaluate a project's success, while the second type represents activities that might be carried out in planning a project or analyzing problems that occur in a completed project. Part 1 directs the user of the guide to a set of tasks in Part 2 tailored to the specific functional objectives being evaluated or problems being diagnosed. These monitoring tasks are arranged in five groups: (1) Mapping and Hydrologic Tasks, (2) Water Quality Tasks, (3) Soil and Sediment Tasks, (4) Primary Producer Monitoring Tasks, and (5) Consumer Monitoring Tasks. Each task description provides background material and lists all equipment, supplies, and procedural steps needed to obtain and interpret data.